John franklin pharo



(No Model.) 2 SheetsShee fi 1. J. P. PHARO.

KNITTING MACHINE. No. 531',062 I Patented Dec. 18, 1894.

- their-crossing points in opposite directions during the further movement of the cam getting ready to narrow, where only a part of UNITED ST TES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN FRANKLIN PHARO, OF DANVILLE,.ASSIGNOR TO MORITZ BOAS, .OF

1 ST. I -IYAOINTHE, CANADA.

MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 531,062, dated December 18, 1894.

Application filed December-'7, 1893. Serial LEA-92.960. (No model.)

.T0 at whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, J OHN FRANKLIN PHARO, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, re siding at Danville, Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada, have invented an' Improvement in Knitting-Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

The circular reversible machine described in United States Patent No. 479,986, dated August 2, 1892, shows a cam ring provided with right and left-hand grooves, each lead ing under a right or left stitch-cam located at a lower level, said grooves crossing each other, portions of each of said grooves from forming a non-knitting and also a topping groove, and said cam ring carries at the junction or crossing, points of said grooves right and left-hand guiding gates, the points of which are directed each toward the other and between the points of said guiding gates being occupied by a directing cam, said directing cam being shown as free to oscillate about a pivot.- In the patent referred to, both right and left-hand guiding gates occupy their upper position when knitting circular work,but when about knitting the last course of circular knitting preparatory to changing from circular to reverse kn'itting, or when the needles of the series of needles is to be used to knit, the said gates are depressed just as the point of one of said gatesapproaches the particular needle which is not to knit in the first course of reverse knitting, and all the needles then under the stitch cam are returned into the non-knitting groove ring. Then for the first course of reciprocating knitting, the machine having been reversed, the points of the gates are elevated just asone of said points approaches the first needle to be used in the reciprocating course, and it remains in that position until the desired number of needles have been brought down, that depending upon the pattern surface, and then said points are again depressed to allow the balance of the needles to remain'in the non-knitting groove, while the cam cylinder continues to travel in the same direction far enough to return all the needles into the non-knitting groove. This done, and the cam cylinder again reversed,

the gates are again elevated to engage anddraw down only the desired number of needles for the next course, and so on as described.

I have done away with the so-called right and left-hand movable guiding gates, and in so doing have given strength and durability to the machine, and instead of these gates I have provided the cam ring with a carriage adapted to be moved up and down automatically in'a suitable guide-way, said carriage having mounted upon it a movable directing cam,'-in this instance of my invention shown as oscillating,and also preferably a guard,

the latter being located just below the directing cam, said carriage and its attached parts occupying a position between the fixed points located near the junction of the right and left-hand knitting grooves, said points being directed toward said carriage.

One part of my invention in a reversible circular knitting machine consists in a cam ring having right and left stitch-cams and needle elevating cams and provided with right and left knitting grooves, each leading under said right and left stitch cams, they occupying a vposition in a lower plane, said grooves crossing each other, portions of said grooves from their crossing points in opposite directions forming non-knitting and also topping grooves, a slidable carriage located at the junction of said grooves and having a.

movable directing cam and a guard; and a cam,and intermediate devices actuated thereby to move said carriage down at the commencement of a reciprocating course to enablethe directing cam to directthe needles tobe used in that course into the knitting groove, and then to elevate said cam to prevent the entrance into said knitting groove 7 ot the needles not to knit in said course, and

enable the needles already used in that course to return from the knitting into the non-knitting groove preparatory to knitting a succeeding reciprocal course.

I have. chosen to illustrate my invention in ring with a knitting groove and with an idle groove above it, and in said machine when it was desired to do reciprocating knitting, the needles not to be used were acted upon by a switch and transferred bodily into the idle groove where they'were permitted to remain during the time that the cam ring-was being reciprocated to narrow and widen in the formationiof a heel or toe, and said machine had at each side the open space between the usual stitch-cam and between the knitting groove and the idle groove, a'needle elevator and a needle depressor, the needle elevators working alternately during narrowing on the end most needles being used to knit, and putting said needles one after another fromopposite ends of the series of needles into the idle groove, andthe narrowest course having been knitting is being done, the carriage h occupics its lowest position, and in the last course of circular work preparatory to narrowing, the carriage is raised when the last needle of the last circular course passes under the stationary point located'at one side of the crossing between the. right and left knitting grooves, so that said directing cam opens a passage .for the next needle to enter the nonknitting groove above said point, and the cam ring continues to move in the same direction until all the needles then in the knitting groove have been returned into the non-knitting groove. This done, the movement of the cam ring is reversed, the carriage, however, remaining up until the point of the directing cam comes opposite that needle which is to constitute'the first needle in the first reciprocating course to be made, when the carriageis lowered, causing the directing cam to meet and direct said needle under the stationary point at the junction of the right and left-hand grooves,'and at that side thereof in the directionofthe rotation of the cam ring, causing said needle and a number of needles following it, sufficient for the course then to beknitted, to pass under the stitch cam, and as the last needle of the number to knit in the said course passes under said stationary point, the said carriage is again lifted automatically to cause the directing cam, as before stated, to open a passage above sa d point for the entrance into the non-knitting groove of the needles not to be used in said Course, this being repeated at each reciprocating course. i

It will beunderstood from the foregoing, that a simple change in the position of the carriage h between one and the next course of reciprocating knitting enables me to employ in any one course of reciprocating knitting any desired number of needles of the entire number in the circular series, and said directing cam consequently performs the duty heretofore performed by the right and left guiding gates referred to, and also by the said switch, the two elevators and the two depressors and the idle groove referred .to as belonging to another well known form of machine.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

In a reversible circular knitting machine the following instrumentalities, viz':a cam ring having right and left stitch cams and needle elevating cams and provided with right and left knitting grooves, each leading under said right and left stitch cams, they occupying a position in a lower plane, said grooves crossing each other between stationary points, portions of said grooves from their crossing points in opposite directions forming nonknitting and also topping grooves, a slidable carriage located at the junction of said grooves and having a movable directing cam and a guard; and acam, and intermediate devices actuated thereby to move said carriage down at the commencement of a reciprocating course to enable the directing cam ICO to direct the needles to be used in that course into the knitting groove, and then to elevate said cam to prevent the" entrance into said knitting groove of the needles not to knit in said course, and enable the needles already used in that course to return from the knitting into the non-knitting groove preparatory toknittingasucceedingreciprocalcourse,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN FRANKLIN PHARO. Witnesses:

M. BoAs, F. A. BRIEN. 

